Maka

Maka is 33 years old. She lives in Dzirula village, Zestaponi district with her parents. Maka requested a loan from local financial institutions several times for a family business start-up but without any success. Her loan request was rejected all the time because of low income and the family’s poor living conditions. Maka’s father is an artisan. He is working on house renovations and constructions from private orders to earn a small income for the family. This is the only source of income for them.

Maka requested a loan from Credo to start up a family business. She has now been approved for a loan within the framework of the new joint initiative of Kiva and Credo. The Start-up loan program envisages provision of business start-up and re-startup credits with soft conditions to rural poor people who do not have access to credit products. These rural poor people are regarded as “high risk borrowers” because of their low income.

With her credit, Maka will start trading with clothes. She will purchase clothes at wholesale prices from the big market and start reselling them among her villagers with a price markup. She will try to work as hard as she can to earn a good profit. Part of the profit will be reinvested in the same business, in order to expand her trading, and another part will be used for the family. The new business initiative, financed with the Kiva Start-up loan, will significantly improve the living conditions of the family.

Additional Information

More information about this loan

This loan is part of Credo's startup loan program targeting particularly vulnerable clients who live at the subsistence level and have been unable to obtain credit due to lack of income from an existing business. This program offers them a longer repayment term and an annual interest rate that is 5% lower than the standard interest rate. By funding this loan, you are supporting a program that gives borrowers a second chance to start and grow small businesses. This has the potential to alleviate the effects of poverty, significantly improving borrowers' incomes and their families' quality of life. Learn more about Credo's startup loan program on the Kiva Blog.

About LLC Micro Finance Organization Credo

LLC Credo (Credo) is a microfinance organization in Georgia that provides sustainable credit services to alleviate poverty in rural areas, including business loans, agriculture loans, household loans, crop insurance and more. Kiva lenders’ funds are used to help the organization expand its outreach to even more entrepreneurs, farmers and households in remote areas.